(BFM Bourse) – Under pressure from its creditors and the markets, the Saint-Etienne distributor has initiated the partial sale of its business in Brazil. This operation allows Casino to accelerate its deleveraging, while market concerns about the group’s balance sheet remain present.
Casino is working on its debt reduction plan. The French group announced on Monday that it has initiated the sale of part of its stake in the Brazilian distributor Assai, after that in its renewable energy subsidiary GreenYellow (for an amount of 600 million euros).
The Saint-Etienne distributor will thus put 140.8 million shares up for sale, or 10.4% of the capital of this specialist in wholesale sales for professionals and individuals listed in Sao Paulo and New York. Jean-Charles Naouri’s group also indicates that it is authorized to sell a maximum of 49.5 million additional shares (3.7% of Assai’s capital), including in the form of exchangeable shares in the United States. , “depending on market conditions”.
“This sale, which has been approved by Casino’s Board of Directors, will take the form of a secondary placement, the allocation of which is scheduled for November 29 and settlement-delivery on December 2, depending on market conditions” , says Casino in its press release.
The market applauds this initiative which will allow a bloodless Casino to find some air. Against the trend, the title rebounded 8% to 12.04 euros, around 9:40 a.m. and thus occupied the head of the SBF 120.
“Accelerate its debt reduction”
The group hopes to make about $500 million from this sale to “accelerate its deleveraging”, as market concerns around the group’s balance sheet prove to be strong and have helped precipitate the fall in the action. Last October, S&P notably downgraded the group’s credit rating from “B” to “CCC”.
In addition to being in the sights of the rating agencies, Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Natixis are urging the distributor behind the scenes to accelerate its restructuring, explained BFM Business in mid-October. The distributor’s main banks called on Casino to step up the pace with the sale of subsidiaries in South America. “In January 2024, a debt of 800 million euros must be repaid and this time, the banks will not postpone the deadline” BFM Business had then indicated.
The group, which has been experiencing financial difficulties for several years, has been engaged since 2018 in a plan to sell assets deemed “non-strategic” of 4.5 billion euros. Its deadline, initially set for March 2021, has been postponed “to the end of 2023 at the latest”, the execution of this plan having been delayed due to the pandemic. If the financial situation of Casino is still the subject of concerns, the distributor recently delivered a point of activity “correct” in the eyes of the market.
A correct publication
Over the whole of the third quarter, the group’s revenues increased by 10.6% to 8.55 billion euros. On a like-for-like basis, ie excluding fuel, calendar variations, scope and exchange rate effects, growth was 5.4%. In France excluding Cdiscount, revenues increased by 3.9% like-for-like.
On the occasion of the publication of its quarterly activity, Casino specified that its net debt at the end of September on its France scope was stable at 5.18 billion euros against 5.14 billion a year earlier. By integrating the finalized disposal of its renewable energy subsidiary GreenYellow, for an amount of 600 million euros, net debt falls to 4.58 billion euros.
Sabrina Sadgui – ©2022 BFM Bourse
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